As the supply voltage continues to drop for advanced microcontrollers, voltage level translators that allow low voltage devices to reliably interface with legacy systems are continuing to be developed. These voltage level translators, in turn, must be capable of supporting a wide voltage range for maximum application flexibility. Existing products support a voltage range from 0.8 V to 3.6 V. However, even lower operating voltages are planned for the future.
In voltage level translators that provide bidirectional voltage translation and a number of channels, the low-to-high voltage level translator outputs generate supply and ground noise; this noise couples to the high-to-low voltage translator outputs and impacts the monotonic behavior of the output signals. Techniques to reduce the noise can reduce data rates below acceptable levels.